The Only Exception

Three

“I can’t believe you are listening to that crap!”

If I had a dollar every time Joel chastised his girlfriend over her taste in music, I could probably afford a long vacation in the Maldives.

We are sitting outside, in the school commons, feeling the fresh breeze that has started after the tail end of summer. I am lying with my back on the soft grass while the two love birds were snatching the phone from one another, like squabbling kids, arguing over what music to play.

“What’s she listening to this time?” My curiosity was piqued so I had to ask. I close my eyes, relaxing after the brutal calculus lecture and problem-solving.

“Some random Asian-American guy named Ocean,” Joel replies. The guy clearly did not impress him by the sound of it. “Why can’t you listen to normal music?”

Even with my eyes closed, I can clearly imagine Gail hitting Joel’s arm for that comment. I hear the guy yelp in response, which makes me grin wider. These two were just so perfect for each other, it's almost so sickening.

“He’s not some random singer! Besides, you’re being racist!” Gail defends her new pop-star. “He’s pretty awesome and is highly popular in the country right now. Just because you two stick to just one genre most of the time does not mean it’s the only appreciate music!”

“What did I do?” I reply, squinting my eyes towards her direction. “I’m comfortably relaxing here and in no way putting myself in the middle of your taxing musical argument. Besides, everyone knows Weezer rocks and Sara is queen.”

Gail gives a dramatic sigh, “No argument here, babe,” she responds. “But Ocean’s music is kind of cool. It’s a mix of really great Korean pop songs and some pretty good classical instruments.”

“How do you even understand what he’s singing about?” Joel asks, giving up on snatching the phone from Gail. He plops down on the ground in front of me.

“There are subtitles, dumdum! Plus, Ocean is half American. He grew up in California, speaks perfect English. However, he also wanted to learn about his roots. He went back to Korea for a few years to strengthen his Korean language and everything!”

Joel grunts in what I assume was his way of telling her that he was bored, but Gail ignores him. “He’s already a classical musician at a very young age. He’s a genius on the cello. An agency in Korea signed him up since he turned out to be a pretty good singer and dancer as well.”

“Why don’t you just marry the guy!” Joel groans out in agony, already halfway to falling asleep. He looks pretty comfortable on the grass. But then again, the guy can fall asleep on anything.

“It’s Winter who drools over the Asian guys, not me!”

“Yeah. Sure,” her boyfriend snaps back, lethargy making his sarcasm less relevant.

I wanted to argue with Gail, but she’s partially right. I don’t know why I like the thin, well-toned, tall guys with necks that looked more graceful than mine. The slanted eyes which made the eyes turn squinty cute when they laugh just tickles my fancy.

There are a couple of hot Asian guys in our senior class and a couple of them have even asked me out, but I never took it too seriously. I went on a date or two, nothing more. I guess I am not ready for a serious relationship yet.

Sure, I’ve kissed guys; just simple make-out sessions, not hot and heavy stuff. Unfortunately, I did not feel any inclination to commit to a relationship or do anything beyond kissing.

Okay, maybe I’m saving myself for Harry Shum or Charles Melton.

“See? She’s imagining Asian s****l fantasies again,” Gail announces, poking me on the shoulder. She lets out a sultry laugh just to goad me, her hand lightly tickling my nose.

“I am not!” I argued, while swatting her hand away.

“You are too!”

“Nope. Stop it!”

Gail leaned forward, her shadow blocking the sun on my face. “Remind me again how many times you watched Crazy Rich Asians?”

“Henry Golding.” I retorted, opening my eyes to glare at her.

This makes her laugh and I stick my tongue out at her. She lays her head on Joel’s stomach, finally getting the lazy bug from him and I. Naturally, the guy is asleep again as we listen to his soft snoring.

“Owie can sleep anywhere!” I mutter, dragging myself up to a sitting position this time. I watch Gail yawn and nod in agreement, her eyes growing a little sleepy as she takes a deep, relaxing breath.

Great! My best friends were sloths. It would be a different story if we were all high up on doobie or something. No, sleep is always the drug of choice. I'm so proud of us!

Just as I was about to lose hope in having anyone to converse with now that I was up and alert, two figures landed on the ground on either side of me.

“He’s asleep already?” Maika Johnson plops beside me, her pixie-cut black hair dancing in the wind. She gives a small wave at a sleepy-looking Gail who manages to wave back with a grin.

Maika was another childhood friend, and she lived a few houses down across the street from Bernstein’s house. She’s half Japanese with white, almost translucent skin, gorgeous almond-shaped eyes and a petite frame. Her mother is married to Daniel Johnson, a famous litigator.

“I’m not surprised if he’s been sleepwalking all this time,” a deep voice responded to my right side.

I turned to look at Henry Thompson, laughing at his quip. I bump my shoulder to his as a way of saying hello, and he gives me a sideways hug, the smell of, well, weed, wafting a little bit.

Henry is a close friend whose father is a very popular music producer. I guess that’s why he always seems to have access to some weed and great concert seats. Oh, nothing serious, he just smokes for leisure, at least, from what I observed.

I’m pretty positive that it stops there. I remember him telling me that he’s just in it for some temporary buzz. He is far from being a person with a drug problem and, most of the time, he smelled pretty normal.

There is something beautiful about the way the sun usually shines on Henry's caramel skin. There’s always that intelligent look behind his clear, light brown eyes, which show like light amber when the light hits it. One would think he’s just a weed-head but actually, he’s pretty intelligent.

Since his father is high up in the entertainment business, this makes Henry kind of the party planner in our group. He manages to get us into the VVIP sections of any major concerts in town, no matter who the artist is. He also hooks the school up with great musical guests during dances and formals.

Seriously, with friends like them, one would think that we’d be at the top of the food chain in school. But we never really got to that point of popularity because, even with our unlimited credit cards and nice cars, rich parents, we acted like a bunch of hobos gathered together in the commons most of the time.

There was no queen bee attitude or arrogant flares in the air. We were friends with most of the senior class and did not have conflict with other students. Plus, there were far richer and more famous students than us.

“Weekend,” Henry announces imperiously over our little group, “who is up for a mini-private concert?”

Gail’s eyes fly open as she sits up straight, all the sleepiness vanishing from her eyes. Vampire girl loves concerts more than anything in this world. Okay, perhaps less than Owie, but definitely, she lives for these happenings as they give her the sustenance to continue existing.

“Who is it?” She asks, excitement slowly creeping into her eyes. Maika giggled as she began doling out home-made sushi. I guess she was just about to start her lunch.

“Some new dude, hold up, I forgot his name,” Henry replies after he thanks Maika for the sandwich. He tries to search for the musician on his phone.

“Is it Ocean?” Gail almost broke my eardrum with her high-pitched squeal. "I have a feeling it's him. Tell me it's him!"

“Oh yeah! That guy! I’m surprised you’ve heard of him already.”

Maika laughs, highly amused by Gail's antics. “Ooh, we’ve definitely heard of him. Ocean is such a complete hottie!”

As they talked, I decided to check on some homework, tuning out Maika and Gail as they started gushing over this Ocean guy.

Like I said, I don’t do that well in packed places. I try my best when it’s a band that I love doing a concert and, since I’m with Henry, we usually get through the venues through private entrances and have box seats.

“I’ll pick you guys up on Saturday. It’s easier to just take one ride so we don’t bother about parking and such.” I vaguely hear him talking, planning the weekend and I just nodded, lost in my chemistry equation.

There was usually no point arguing with these guys when it comes to the weekend plans. Unless I’m sick or truly dying, that’s the only time I can bail out on any plans they might have for the group. I do not hold it against them because we always have a good time and I love this crazy bunch.

A loud, sputtering snore interrupted all of us and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as Joel turned to his side. Now his face is directly in front of the rest of the group, his mouth slightly opening, still asleep.

I grabbed my phone, took a quick picture because the scene is just too priceless.

“Sleepy, drooly, and just dreamy,” Gail murmurs, looking down on her boyfriend. “And he’s all mine!”

We all break out laughing.